


Pictures May Speak Thousands of Words, But So Do Flowers.

by Iamsuperconfused



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Comfort, F/F, Flower Language, Jealousy, Long-Distance Relationship, Love Letters, Post-Supergirl (TV 2015) Season 2, background sanvers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-06-28 05:25:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19805650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iamsuperconfused/pseuds/Iamsuperconfused
Summary: Pictures of Cat Grant and Olivia Marsdin make the news, turning an innocent show of affection between the two women into an oversized scandal that has them walking on eggs. Kara Danvers can only watch as every news outlet known to man spin the story out of proportions and ends up struggling with her growing jealousy.  Will the long distance lovers find a way to keep the flame between them burning?





	Pictures May Speak Thousands of Words, But So Do Flowers.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NamiWave](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NamiWave/gifts).



> Thanks to [Gwatson2304](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gwatson2304/pseuds/Gwatson2304) for the Beta-Reading.
> 
> Merry Christmas-In-July NamiWave! I hope you like this!

The pictures weren’t that scandalous, It was just Cat and Olivia together during an after-hours diplomatic event with the French ambassador. A _lot_ of pictures of them, whispering to each other, arm in arm. They were everywhere: TV News, Newspapers, Podcasts and Social media. All are frenzied over it. 

The press secretary appears for a conference early that morning, looking a particularly murderous shade of lovely, clad in dark blue and white. She fields the questions of the press about the conventional issues of the day. Of course, one of the reporters present at the press conference asks a question about it. 

_"This isn't the first time rumors and articles have romantically linked you to another woman. Have they been true thus far? Are you romantically attracted to women? Are you having an affair with the President?” The room fills with an awkward laughter and a lot of chatter._

_“No on all counts. Olivia and I are friends and nothing more. Enough question about my personal life.” Cat looks ready to tear the reporter to pieces physically, but retains her cool throughout the rest of the meeting._

That’s the last thing Kara hears leaving her apartment in the morning, she flies above National City to get to CatCo a little faster. Her phone does not stop buzzing with notifications about text messages through the trip. Alex, Maggie, James, Lena and Snapper all asking a thousand questions to which she doesn’t have any answers, to her great sorrow.

CatCo’s offices are a mess all morning, part of it is the ongoing transition between being owned by Cat Grant to being owned by Lena Luthor. The other part is that every news outlet in the US and even some abroad; trying to contact them to verify older stories and have their take on the new scandal. Kara has to unplug her work phone to get anything done.

There’s a quick knock on her door before Snapper just walks in. “Hey, Miss Danvers? We’d love to have a word with Cat and she doesn’t really answer my calls anymore. Can you use your charm for us? I’ll even say please.” Snapper asks, his voice low, discreet, covered by the buzzing sound of the open offices behind him. 

A stapler crash into the wall about a foot away from Snapper’s head. He's unphased by the aggression, by her wordless anger. As she tries to form words, she gesticulates wildly in his general direction. “Why are you asking **_me_ **!?” Her shouting loud but it soon wavers. “I don’t have any more news than you do.” 

The revelation seems to soften Lucas and he sighs, resigned. “Yeah, I thought she’d have contacted you over this. Stay strong Danvers.” He looks at the stapler sticking out from the wall “Hang a picture over the hole while you wait for it to be fixed, it’s what I do.” He leaves her office and returns to his own.

After taking the stapler back from the hole in the wall, Kara does hang a picture of her sister and Maggie over it and sends a note to Lena about it. She looks at her text messages, all of her friends offering varying shades of help and her gaze flies over them quickly, finding her conversation with Cat instead. No replies since the morning.

> **_You:_ ** _Cat, I know you’re probably really, really busy and angry. I know you didn’t do anything with Olivia, I still love you ♥_
> 
> **_You:_ ** _Hey, I’d love to hear your voice, please? And don’t tell me to turn on the TV, I don’t want to hear you say that again._

* * *

_3 days later_

* * *

The scandal rages on as more people come forward with testimonies, a few fake pictures surface and the constant media firestorm forces the President herself, along with her husband and Cat to reiterate publicly and in numerous interviews that there is no basis to the rumors surrounding them. The scandal slowly shifts away from the President, as they tend to do, after that. 

Unfortunately, The focus shifts on to the Press secretary and it’s her past dating history that finds its way into the limelight. It’s scrutinized and analyzed and there’s more questions and more public denial. Kara wants to fly over to Washington and snatch Cat away from this. Kara talks herself out of it. It’d be too risky.

When she finishes her day at work, after dropping by the DEO and helping Alex out with a few weapons tests, after refusing all of the invitations from her other friends. She climbs the stairs to her apartment, miserable and dragging herself through her door. She locks the door behind her and uses her super-speed to change into grey sweats. Grabbing her phone, as she sinks into the couch, she ignores the various texts and opens the still unresponsive conversation with Cat. 

> **_You:_ ** _It’s been three days, you haven’t even made an attempt to talk to me._

Still no response. It’s complete silence in her apartment, her friends stop texting, leaving her alone as she seems to want, the TV remains off too. Kara feels a weight settling in her stomach and it grows until her whole body vibrates with it. Her skin feels warm, there’s a discomfort in her bones and tears slips from the corner of her eyes, onto the cushion. 

Her phone rings and she immediately answers, barely catching the name of the caller. “Kara Danvers.” 

Alex’s voice comes through the phone. It strains to stay neutral. “Hey, Kara. President Marsdin just gave us orders about the remains of the Daxamite starships and would like Supergirl’s cooperation on the project. To help us understand the tech and maybe translating the language.” 

The weighed, emotional vibration in Kara twist her stomach and out of it comes a vehement retort. “President Marsdin can go **_fuck_ ** herself. You can quote me too.” Kara speaks a little too loudly. She can hear Maggie and Winn burst out laughing behind Alex, likely as a result of her response. 

Alex almost laughs too, but she manages to keep herself in check. “It might require you to go to Washington too.” 

“No!” Kara stands firm. “I am _not_ leaving National City.” 

“But you’d see _her_!” Alex speaks through her teeth, voice straining, fist clenching..

“I don’t know if you’ve been following the news but I’m not exactly in a lovey-dovey mood with ‘her’ right now.” Kara grumbles into her phone. “So no, I’m not working with what appears to be my romantic rival just to help her get new spaceships.”

Maggie is just wheezing in the background and Winn is reminding her how to breathe. Alex sighs heavily. “You’re being petty now.” 

“Yes, yes I am. That’s what three days with no news during this scandal gets her.” Kara takes a deep breath. “Will that be all Agent Danvers?” 

“Yes. I’m looking forward to explaining your refusal to President Marsdin.” Alex has this annoyed tone in her voice now. She ends the call abruptly. She notice a text from Maggie as she stare at the screen.

> **_Maggie:_ ** _Hey, just to make it clear. I was laughing because of the way you said things, not because of the situation._
> 
> **_You:_ ** _I know, thanks for checking in._

The rest of the evening is quiet and empty, there’s no one trying to call, no one sending her texts and no one tries to visit her un-announced. Midnight flies past and Kara’s almost asleep on her couch, her glasses discarded on the nearby coffee table. 

She hears steps on the stairs, leading up to her apartment. From the sounds, it doesn’t feel like heels clicking on the stairs and floor. It can’t be Cat. But it stops at her door, three knocks, loud and strong. 

Kara slides out of the couch and puts her glasses back on, without checking who it is. She opens the door and there’s a man in a three piece suit standing there with a bouquet of red roses and an envelope in his white-gloved hands. “Yes?” 

“Miss Danvers?” When Kara nods he hands over the bouquet and the letter. “I’ll need you to confirm reception with a signature.” 

Kara set the letter on her kitchen counter and the flowers get thrown straight into her trash can. “No problem, come in. Can you send a message in return?” 

“Certainly, all fees have been paid already..” The man seems a bit uneasy with the flowers being unceremoniously trashed, but he comes in and pull a receipt from his pocket. “It was already expected, do you wish to send a bouquet too in return?” 

Kara picks up a pen and a sheet of paper, ready to write her own letter. but she grabs the one from man’s hands. She scans it with her X-ray vision and groans in disappointment. She opens it and stops reading after the first line, sending it into the trash bin too. “How do you say ‘fuck you’ in flowers?” 

“I wouldn’t know, Ma’am.” The delivery guy’s dabs at his brow with a tissue he retrieves from his coat’s pocket, clearly uneasy with the turn this delivery is taking. 

“Then nevermind. I’ll stick to the letter.” After signing the reception form, Kara writes and writes and writes. It’s almost a full page of her blocky handwriting when she hands the clumsily folded piece of paper. 

_“Dear Catherine Grant,_

_I am not a child throwing a tantrum. I did not expect you to run back to National City to comfort me. I did not expect you to declare your love to the world. I heard you when you said our love would be difficult for a time. I listened when you said you couldn’t always reach for me every night. I also heard you when you said you want to keep us a secret, I understand that and I never held it against you, I still don’t, not even now._

_But I also heard you when you said you’d do everything in your power to let me know how much you love me, you didn’t. During three miserable days, you faced this crisis without me, you did not contact me for strength and you didn’t lend me yours._

_I am angry. I am hurt and I am also jealous that you choose to lean on Olivia and not me. I don’t think you cheated, I am jealous that you found strength in her and not me._

_You’re the White House Press Secretary, the Queen of All Media and you inspired the world to fight back against two alien invasions. Your best is not a bouquet of cheap flowers delivered at the wee hours of the morning, your best is not a generic apology letter and it’s not letting both of us down during a hard time._

_Always yours, even in anger_

_Kara Z.”_

“If the lady is still interested it appears a bouquet of geranium and meadowsweets with a yellow carnation would function best as a way to convey her idea.” He says, looking up from his phone, while Kara folds the letter.

“Yeah, let’s do that. How much?” Kara asks, digging into her nearby purse for her wallet. 

“It would be free, the sender has paid for that, just in case.” He quickly adds when he sees Kara’s expression. “There was no presumption, I should add, only a precaution.” 

“Very well, that’ll be it.” She takes a deep breath and guides the guy out of the building.

* * *

_The Next morning, at the White House._

* * *

The White House is certainly an impressive place to find a job as an assistant, especially as one of your first serious jobs. Nia Nal’s heels click down the hall toward the Press Secretary’s office A stack of rather pressing files tucked under her arm, a scalding hot coffee in one hand and her phone in the other. The door is closed. “Great er…” She takes her phone in her mouth and tries to open the door. It’s locked too. She bite onto her phone tighter as she utters a muffled curse and look for the keys in her dress’s pocket. 

At last, the door opens and she almost trips herself with the heels of her shoes, yet keeps the coffee from spilling even a drop. The sight inside of the office is quite unexpected: Cat Grant crying her eyes out, while staring at a piece of badly folded mobile sheet. The bouquet of geraniums, yellow carnations and meadowsweets sprawled over the desk gives a weird vibe. When she approaches the desk, she can see a single red rose amidst the bouquet too.

She sets the coffee on the corner of the desk, careful not to move anything. Immediately after, she takes the phone out of her own mouth and stuffs it into her pocket. “I’m Nia Nal, your new aide. I got you coffee.” She casts a side glance at the pile of files under her arm, she sets them on the nearest cabinet. 

“I locked my office for a reason, Miss Nal.” The tone is her typical snark and smugness, but the intent of scaring her new aide away backfires. Maybe it’s how defeated she looks, or the constant roll of tears on her cheek. 

“And I was given a key for a reason, Miss Grant. My job is to make yours easier. So how can I do that?” She crosses her arms over her chest, even as she gets a dizzy spell with how bold she’s being.

“Well, I suppose you’ll do fine here.” Cat relents and sets the letter into one of her drawers. She starts gathering the flowers. She trashes the whole bouquet immediately, but keeps the single red rose. “Miss Nal, Not a word about the flowers in my office. To anyone. Understood?” 

With the events of the last few days fresh in mind, Nia immediately seems to catch on the importance of the request. “Not a word.” She stares at the bouquet of flowers in the trash. “Should we find a more discreet way of disposing of the flowers then?” 

“Good idea, but I'm not getting rid of the rose.” Cat takes the flower in her hand and her coffee in the other, she sets the flower in a water pot near a window while sipping her coffee. “The rest of the bouquet is calling me a useless idiot.” 

“Are the plants talking to you?” Nia asks, dreading an affirmative answer, her eyes widen in apprehension. 

“No no, it’s just the flower language. There’s a few books on it. I’ve not gone to the deep end yet.” She drinks from the coffee, without a comment. 

Nia looks at the various flowers in the trash and grabs the messy bouquet from out of the bin. “Do you want me to arrange a flower delivery of your own, Miss Grant?” 

“No, that wouldn’t solve my problem.” Cat turns around and walks back to her desk. She grabs a few tissues, blows her nose and wipe her eyes. 

“Then what is the problem? Maybe I can help with that?” Nia offers, wringing her hand nervously. 

“I need a way to pleasantly surprise someone I’ve let down.” Cat’s voice cracks slightly but she keeps talking. “I can’t disappoint them again.” 

Nia blinks at the uses of gender neutral pronouns, she quickly fills the growing silence. “Going to visit would be too flashy and public, more flowers wouldn’t really help unless you go over-the-top. Though, I think it’d be cute to keep communicating with loads of flowers.” 

“I suppose I could try to one up that other lady...” Cat smiles, though more tears courses down her cheeks. “I should write them a letter myself... Do you have any mobile sheets? I don’t think I’d need fancy letter paper.”

“I can go out and get some for you, but I think maybe the first letter back should be a little fancier? I have perfume you could use in my purse.” Nia steps closer to the door with a bright smile. 

“Get both and two copies of a book about flower language, Miss Nal.” Cat smiles, genuinely. “Again, your discretion is mandatory.” 

“Understood Miss Grant.” 

* * *

Kara wakes up to a new text from Cat the next day, it doesn’t say anything but there is a picture of her holding the one red rose she hid in the bouquet. It’s obvious that Cat has cried and that someone else has taken it. There’s two books on flower language on the desk nearby.

> **_You:_ ** _I never meant to make you cry._
> 
> **_Cat:_ ** _I didn’t cry because I was sad. Your letter was beautiful._

The exchange is minimal and slow, it’s very casual and there’s a lot of emojis on Cat’s side of the conversation. That alone has Kara confused. She manages to get to CatCo even though her heart isn’t really into work this morning, not after the last few days. As soon as she comes out of the elevator, she can tell something is different. 

Lena stands near her office, arms crossed over her chest and an amused smile upon her lips, it grows brighter when Kara arrives. “So, Kara, I think someone might be wanting to one-up me on the flowers.” 

She looks inside her office: Flowers everywhere, Blue Hyacinths , Pink Roses and Carnations arranged in varying bouquets. There’s a book on her desk, the same one that was in Cat’s newest picture. Kara closes her eyes and takes a shuddering breath, tears roll down her cheeks. “It’s Cat.” 

Lena pulls Kara into a hug, short and warm. “Enjoy the flowers and the book! I’m pretty sure there’s a letter too.” The CEO makes a hush motion and walks back to her office. 

The letter is stuck between the pages of the book that explains the meaning of this particular set of bouquets. It seems to be an apology of some sort, but Kara doesn’t really read the book, there’ll be time for that later. She pries open the letter and pulls out the paper. Fancy white house paper letter with a lovely scent.

_“Dear Kara,_

_You know I am terrible at these moments, I am not the best at apologies, at reaching out when people need help, when I need help. You know that the feelings I have for you are there nonetheless, even when my own failings get the better of me. But even knowing about my weaknesses and my failings, isn’t an excuse for not trying. As you so helpfully reminded me._

_Kara Zor-El Danvers, I love you and I want you to know that the last few days have been difficult without your voice and touch at my side. I was afraid of the added scrutiny, so much so that I let that fear guide my choices, I always make the worst decisions based on fear. I was afraid that for each minute that passed without any gestures from me, you were drifting away from me, so I sent a hasty, unworthy gift._

_I reached for who was closest to me, easiest in the moment and I should’ve reached for you._

_I apologize. I shouldn’t let my fear cloud my judgement. Your love is precious to me and I sometimes forget that precious doesn’t mean easily lost. I’ll be taking steps to keep us in contact and stronger._

_To that end, I have shared the knowledge of our situation to my newest aide, Miss Nia Nal. She’ll be helping me keep in discreet contact with you._

_My deepest love_

_Catherine Grant”_

Below the signature is a drawn heart by Cat’s hand. Kara holds the letter to her chest and she closes her eyes. She takes a selfie of herself, in the middle of the flowers, with the letter held against her body.

> **_You:_ ** _I love you so much Cat, say thanks for Miss Nal for me._
> 
> **_Cat:_ ** _I will. About to go in a series of meetings. I’ll have miss Nal contact you by email during the day to arrange things._
> 
> **_You:_ ** _♥♥♥♥♥♥♥_


End file.
